Advancing the study of transnational politics requires clarification or elaboration of key concepts, such as “globalization” and “transnational.” Global feminism, as a particular aspect of transnational politics (or globalization) as well as a particular form of feminist organizing, presents new challenges and revives old problems for political science and women's studies scholarship: What is feminism? What are feminist movements? How do they relate to women's movements? Men's movements? What would it mean for a social movement to be “global”? How do movements fit into our conceptualizations of political actors? Are they interest groups? Nongovernmental organizations? Policy entrepreneurs? This conceptual terrain needs to be carefully charted in order to permit systematic investigation of the many intriguing empirical questions that the phenomenon of global feminism suggests: How can we account for the proliferation of women's organizing transnationally at a time when national and even local movements appear to be foundering on the shoals of “differences among women”? Has feminist mobilization always been increased by globalization, as Myra Marx Ferree (p. 4) suggests? What, if any, forms or aspects of feminist transnational mobilization are new? Is there any truly transnational or transregional activism, any such thing as global or transnational solidarity among women? Are all women's movements fundamentally national in character? Does feminist discourse share any similarities across national boundaries, so that the concept of “feminist movement” can be said to refer to sufficiently similar phenomena in different national contexts? Can conceptual language developed to apply to women's movements in the context of domestic (most often national) politics be applied to transnational or global forms of political organizing and action by women and feminists? For example, do the concepts developed to chart the relationship between women's movements and the state (autonomy, cooptation, etc.) capture the relationships between movements and government structures at an international level?
This collection of essays breaks new ground in systematically investigating these critical questions and themes. Indeed, the volume aims to look at the “diverse and contested process called globalization from the vantage point of feminism and women's movements” (p. 5). Although there have been many works on women or feminism and globalization, such works often examine the impact of neoliberal reforms on women, or show how women's protests respond to developments caused by the internationalization of markets (such as plant closures), without directly and clearly linking local women's organizing with any international agents or structures. This book, in contrast, carefully defines the concepts of women's movement, feminism, and transnational political opportunity structures in ways that facilitate both theoretical and empirical work on transnational women's organizing.
The chapters provide helpful accounts of women's organizing that detail the connection between these activities and transnational political agents and structures. For example, chapters are devoted to documenting the emergence of specifically transnational feminism and to examining the unlikely role of the United Nations in furthering the global women's movement. Particularly welcome is the chapter on women's regional organizing in Africa, an area that (in spite of a growing body of scholarship) is still understudied. Other chapters chart the connections between local or domestic women's movements and transnational institutions and economic actors: One chapter examines the contradictions that confront the Turkish women's movement as Turkey seeks European Union membership and simultaneously faces resurgent Islamist and nationalist movements, contradictions (the author argues) that are characteristically “modern.” Another important contribution is the chapter on organizing among migrant domestic workers, one that aims to show how a marginalized, seemingly powerless group managed to challenge international economic and political institutions and transform (to some degree) the conditions of their lives through collective action.
In addition to these conceptual and empirical contributions, Global Feminism further deepens our theoretical understanding of the relationships among women, feminism, and globalization by exploring key theoretical assumptions and themes in feminist research on international relations and social movements. Is the global feminist network dominated by “Western” women? Does it make sense to categorize the United States, Canada, and Japan together with European countries as an undifferentiated “West” because of the level of economic development? The fascinating analysis of the network of Internet sites of international women's organizations suggests that this category is too crude: European women's organizations have quite a different relationship to the developing world from that of Canadian and U.S. organizations. Are national women's movements influenced by transnational feminist networks? One chapter suggests that the influence of such networks on domestic women's policy debates is minimal and varies a great deal by issue. Have women's policy machineries at the regional and international levels furthered feminist goals? One chapter suggests that it depends on the international organizations we are talking about; another chapter suggests that women's policy advocacy influence varies by issue.
Many chapters address the question of how transnational relationships of power shape or obstruct women's organizing, as well as the converse: How does women's organizing activity reinforce or challenge these transnational power relationships? For example, chapters on domestic workers in Hong Kong, on the impact of donor relationships on women's organizing, and on Northern women's activist interventions in foreign contexts consider how economic and political structures disadvantage some women relative to others. This power differential creates a variety of obstacles for feminist organizing, including obscuring the perspectives of local feminists as to the most important issues and the best strategies for addressing those issues. The chapters go beyond the simple observation that such power differentials can create conflict, however, to suggest strategies to overcome divisions among women and build solidarity: Solidarity can be achieved and deepened by organizing based on difference, by consulting with those closest to the issue on the ground, and by treating each other with respect and concern as subjects, not merely objects, of activism. This means that sometimes Northern women must facilitate the self-organization of women elsewhere; sometimes, as one chapter argues, it means recognizing that for many of the world's women, “development” and women's rights are inseparable issues. Thus, these chapters also have much to contribute to feminist debates about representation (Who speaks for whom? Who can and should speak for whom? How do we recognize the importance of “self-representation,” especially for marginalized groups, without celebrating factionalism or undermining the gender solidarity that gives us strength?).
In sum, then, this volume offers a rich set of theoretical and empirical contributions that are directly relevant to the most pressing political issues facing scholars of gender politics and feminist activists.
